• In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Show, Jay Clayton explained how crypto should be regulated in the future. 

• According to him, crypto should be implemented but with the appropriate regulation. 

Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission who was appointed by former US president Donald Trump in 2017 has disclosed that he firmly believes in crypto technology, and suggested that the Commission should be in charge of regulating the sectors that are linked to it. Clayton is known as a Bitcoin enthusiast who defended the digital asset as a store of value during his tenure. 

In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Show, he explained how crypto should be regulated in the future. 

I am a huge believer in this technology. The efficiency benefits in the financial system and otherwise from tokenization are immense.

According to him, Crypto should be implemented but with the appropriate regulation. He further stated that the government should be proactive to ensure that the crypto technology is adopted throughout its financial system, but must be reactive to people who operate outside the framework of the law. 

Recently, the current chair of SEC Gary Gensler confirmed that the financial watchdog has no intention to subject cryptos to a ban. However, the US Congress could. Gensler also mentioned that the crypto market, if not properly regulated, could be likened to the wild west.

Crypto linked to a variety of sectors, says Clayton

Clayton was asked if the comments of the current chair of SEC creates unfavorable restrictions to the industry.  According to him, the crypto sector is linked to a variety of sectors as it has many purposes. For this reason, the SEC must only be responsible for regulating those sectors.

Crypto is a wide variety of products, with a wide variety of functions, and the rules of our financial system are clear and long-standing. If you are raising capital for a project, you have to register your capital raising with the SEC. If you are trading securities it has to be on a registered venue, But there are many crypto sectors like stablecoins that are not securities and outside of SEC purview.

It is interesting to note that Clayton never approved Bitcoin ETF during his tenure despite his soft spot for the digital asset, however, Gensler did in 2021. SEC approved Bitcoin ETFs but rejected Spot ETF applications. This has subjected the Agency to backlash with Grayscale submitting a letter to SEC’s secretary Vanessa Countryman, accusing the Agency of treating two Bitcoin ETF proposals differently under the Administrative Protections Act. 

There is no basis for the position that investing in derivatives for an asset is acceptable for investors but not investing in the asset itself.

Many traditional financial experts have disclosed their positions on crypto regulations and how it should be formulated. The IMF recently recommended that crypto regulations should be consistent, comprehensive, and coordinated.